Osteologiccil Studies of the Subfamily Ardevice. 
27 
globicera , it is likely to make its appearance in the less complicated 
types of palates in the Gallince. 
Then again, another form that approaches the desmognathous 
type of palatal structure is Rhinochetus jubatus. This bird, the 
well known Kagu, has received the able attention of Parker, and 
an exhaustive account of its osteology appears in the sixth volume 
of the Transactions of the Zoological Society. Its cranial charac¬ 
ters bring it quite near the Night Herons, on the confines of the 
Gruidce , where nearest approached by the Ardeince. Coues places 
the Cranes, Rails, and their allies in an order Aledorides, and says 
of them : “The Aledorides are schizognathous in palatal struc¬ 
ture. The nasal bones are schizorhinal in the Crane type, holo- 
rhinal in that of the Rails. The angle of the mandible is truncate. 
The maxillo-palatines are not spongy, but thin and laminate. 
There are normally no basiptervgoid processes. The "sternum is 
typically long and narrow, and may be entire, or deeply notched ; 
it is sometimes excavated to receive folds of the windpipe. There 
are two carotids ; and two intestinal cceca are present. ” “ While 
the general pterylosis is not peculiar, the Aledorides normally lack 
the powder-down tracks so characteristic of Herons and their 
allies. As to the classificatory muscles of the thigh, all five are 
present nearly throughout the order; exceptionally the femoro- 
caudal or its accessory is wanting. These normally praecocial and 
ptilopaedic (with whatever exceptions) birds are more sharply dis¬ 
tinguished from the perfectly altricial Herodiones than they are 
from the completely praecocial and ptilopaedic Limicolce , with 
which latter, in fact, the Aledorides are directly connected through 
the Bustards ( Otididce ) and the Thick-knees ( CEdienemidce )—the 
line between the two orders being probably to be drawn between 
these two families” (Key to N. A. Birds, 2d Ed. p. 665). 
In the first part of these osteological studies of the Ardeince , 
I stated that it was my intention to close the present part (Part 
II) with some “supplementary notes,” to be incorporated with my 
review of the characters of the skeleton in A. herodias and some 
representative of the Night Herons. This plan, however, I will 
change a little, and contrast in a general “synoptical table” all 
the characters of any importance that I can obtain from the skele¬ 
tons of the various North American lierondine birds before me, 
especially from those representing the sub-family under considera¬ 
tion. 
